The use of 3GPP LTE systems (including both LTE and LTE-A systems) has increased due to both an increase in the types of devices user equipment (UEs) using network resources as well as the amount of data and bandwidth being used by various applications, such as video streaming, operating on these UEs. For example, the growth of network use by Internet of Things (IoT) UEs, which include machine type communication (MTC) devices such as sensors and may use machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, has severely strained network resources. New 3GPP standard releases related to the next generation network (5G) are taking into account the massive influx of low-data, high-delay and low power transmissions.
One type of user-based IoT devices developed recently whose popularity has exploded is wearable devices. Wearable devices, such as fitness trackers, smart watches, smart glasses, etc., typically have a low battery capacity and a low internal memory capacity. In terms of deployment, each user may carry multiple wearable devices, and may be located in a highly-dense populated scenario with other people carrying wearable devices. Unlike many MTC IoT devices, wearable devices may have a mobility similar to that of cell phones and a greater, albeit still limited, functionality. One mobility-related aspect to be developed for such devices is discovery and access.